Improvement in steam-enginery for steam-vessels



4UNITED ISTATES. PATENT OEEICE.

JOHN HOWE, JR., OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

TIMPRovl-:MENT IN STEAM-ENGINERY FOR STEAM-VESSELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. Sfl, dated April 6,1869.

To all to whom these presents shall come Be it known that I, JOHN HowE,Jr., of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and Gommonwealth ofMassachusetts, have made an invention of certain Improvements in SteamEnginery; and do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description thereof', due reference being had to the accompanyin gdrawings, makin g part of this specification and in which- Figure lis aplan, and Fig. 2 a transverse section, of the hull of a navigable vesselcontainlng my invention.

The object of my present invention is to regulate and control theposition and movements of a navigable vessel when approaching a wharf orlanding, and when it is not possible or practicable to put her undersufcient-headway to obey her helm, or when from any cause she may havebecome helpless or unmanageable, either by derangement of her ordinarypropelling or her steering machinery, the employment of my inventionenabling me not only to propel or turn the vessel in any direc-` tion,but to steer her course accurately without a rudder.

The invention in question consists of Van arrangement of one or morepipes or steam-conduits arranged within the body of the hull of thevessel, at any convenient or suitable part thereof, and communicatingwith the steam generator or boilers of such vessel, the outer extremityof such steam-conduits extending through the sides of the hull below thewaterline, and at the stem and stern thereof, in such manner and at suchan angle to her keel as to enable steam, when admitted to the conduit,to strike against the body of water with such force and in such adirection as to force the vessel through the water in the desireddirection, the admission of steam to either or any of the conduits beingregulated by a cock or cocks suitably applied.

In the drawings above mentioned as illustrating my invention, a denotesthe hull of a navigable vessel, in the interior of which a steamgenerator or boiler, b, of any suitable construction, is located.Connected with the steam-space of this boiler through a suitable dome,and radiating therefrom, are four steam conduits or pipes, c e1 c2 c3,these pipes being carried to the stem and stern of the vessel, andthrough opposite sides of its hull below its water-line.

The dome A, before alluded to, or that portion of the steam-boiler withwhich the steamconduits are connected, is to be provided with a suitablevalve or valves for permitting admission of steam to one or more oftheconduits, as occasion may require, and the valve or valves may besupplied with a suitable pointer or 1ndicator, to enable the properperson to regulate the passage of steam.

It' steam be admitted to the two con-duits c2 c3 together, or to eitherof them singly, the steam, acting upon the volume of water 1n which thevessel is,will turn hernearly or about upon her center in the directionofthe red arrow thereon.

It' steam be admitted to either or both of the conduits c c1, the vesselwill be turned in like manner in the opposite direction; or the ves'-sel may be propelled broadside on in either d1- rection by admittingsteam simultaneously to either of the pipes c c3 or c1 c2.

By admitting steam through either of the pipes c o2 or cle the vesselmay be propelled stem or stern iirst, and it will be obvious that byincreasing or diminishing the amount of steam projected through thesepipes while propellin g a vessel, her course may be accurately steeredwithout the aid of a rudder.

I do not, of course, intend to limit myself to the number of thesteam-conduits as herein shown and described, as my invention is1ntended to embrace novel mechanical devices for propelling and steeringa navigable vessel by means of steam pressing against the volume ofwater in which such vessel iioats.

The want of some efficient and powerful means of moving and guiding avessel when approaching a wharf or landing, and when comparativelyhelpless and unmanageable after stopping the revolutions of her engine,has long been known and appreciated by nautical men, as it is a matterfrequently of considerable time, and always of more or less difliculty,tobring a vessel up to lier berth.

By the employment of my invention a vessel may be propelled backward andforward broadside on, or backward and forward in a direct l1ne with ordiagonally to her keel, or be turned in a circle upon her own center, asthe case may be, without the aid of her ordinary propelling or steeringmachinery, thus enabllng a Vessel provided with my invention to makegood headway, which would otherwise be unmanageable or crippled, and bebrought directly and with certainty and ease to her berth.

As the steam to be employed for the purpose 1s used when her engines arestopped, and the

